Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will set out the appointment process for the Permanent Secretary, Director of Government Communications.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The appointment process for the Director of Government Communications followed the process for Permanent Secretary recruitment set out in the Civil Service Recruitment Principles (here, paragraphs 44 - 47).
The role was advertised on Civil Service Jobs from 19 May to 15 June 2025.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken for civil servants to access the ill health retirement scheme.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Department recognises the importance of timely access to ill health retirement and there is a process in place to ensure that members, employers, the scheme medical advisor and, where appropriate, the pension scheme administrator, all work together to complete this as quickly as possible.
Whilst there are indicative timelines for various steps, timelines may vary due to the complexity of each case and complex cases may take longer when external parties are also required to contribute to the process.
Employers and members have oversight of progress of their own individual cases and the Cabinet Office continues to monitor the contractual performance of the scheme medical advisor and the pension scheme administrator.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the eligibility criteria for the civil service ill health retirement scheme.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Members of the Civil Service Pension Scheme are eligible for ill-health retirement benefits under the Scheme if the Scheme Medical Adviser is of the opinion that they have suffered a permanent breakdown in health involving incapacity for employment. The eligibility criteria was reviewed on the introduction of the Alpha scheme in 2015, and are consistent with those in other public service pension schemes.
The Cabinet Office regularly monitors ill-health retirement cases and currently 99.9% of quotes for ill health retirement are being issued within 10 days by the scheme administrator.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of moving civil servants to Cheltenham on his Departments staffing costs.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The 2025 Spending Review confirmed £244 million investment supporting the relocation of roles out of Whitehall to complete the development of new hubs in the regions.
Cheltenham will continue to be a vibrant Civil Service location and home to one of GCHQs strategic hubs. The Government Property Agency continues to work closely with departments based in Cheltenham.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much and what proportion of the £244 million to be spent on the development of new government hubs fund will be spent on relocating civil servants to Cheltenham.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The 2025 Spending Review confirmed £244 million investment supporting the relocation of roles out of Whitehall to complete the development of new hubs in the regions.
Cheltenham will continue to be a vibrant Civil Service location and home to one of GCHQs strategic hubs. The Government Property Agency continues to work closely with departments based in Cheltenham.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Spending Review 2025, published on 11 June 2025, whether he plans to allow cyber security entrepreneurs to have access to a proportion of the additional funding provided to the Single Intelligence Account for research and development.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
As has been the policy of successive governments, the government does not comment on matters relating to the intelligence agencies.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what changes he plans to make to rules governing SME procurement in public contracts, in the context of the Spring Statement 2025.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
This Government is taking major steps to give SMEs greater access to public contracts - including the publication of the National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) which sets out a mission-led procurement regime focused on driving economic growth that supports Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSEs), giving them greater opportunities to win public contracts by instructing contracting authorities to maximise their spend with these organisations. To support implementation of the NPPS in central government, we have announced new rules requiring all government departments and their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies to set three-year targets for direct spend with SMEs from 1 April 2025, and from 1 April 2026 for VCSEs, and publish progress annually.
We will be consulting on more reforms including a requirement for large contracting authorities to publish their three-year targets for small business and social enterprise spend and report on this annually - as well as the exclusion of suppliers from contracts worth more than £5million if they don’t complete prompt payments of invoices.
In the Spring Statement, the Chancellor also announced measures to reform our procurement system to give small businesses across the UK better access to Ministry of Defence contracts.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Prime Minister's oral contribution of 25 February 2025, Official Report, column 634, if he will make an assessment of the potential contribution of (a) GCHQ and (b) the Golden Valley Development in Cheltenham to the UK’s (i) intelligence services and (ii) cyber security expertise and capabilities as part of the upcoming national security strategy.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
The Prime Minister announced a single national security strategy will be published ahead of the NATO Summit in June. This will bring together the national security related reviews underway. As part of creating this strategy, the drafters will consult with relevant Departments and Agencies, including intelligence services.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of relocating civil service offices to Cheltenham via the Places for Growth Scheme.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
We are working with departments on their future workforce and location plans as part of the upcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of relocating civil servants working on cyber security and technology to be closer to the cyber industry in Cheltenham as part of the Places for Growth Scheme.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
We are working with departments on their future plans as part of the upcoming Spending Review.